Deconstructed Fairy Tale And Reconstructed Reality

In the later half of the 20th century, America went through radical changes in economy, culture, science, values and thoughts. Both the social circumstance and the deconstructive theories provide their supports for the postmodernist writers, who deny the objective depiction about the external world, emphasize the constructive function of language, and adopt a playful attitude toward their works, which invites much criticism from the critics.As one of the most distinguished postmodernists, Donald Barthelme practices the deconstructive theories in most of his works. His experimental writing techniques make him one of the most influential innovators. His innovation even changes the forms and styles of American short fiction, thus he has been proclaimed as"the most imitated writer in America today". Among his tremendous prolificacy, Snow White is his masterpiece and the typical postmodernist novel. His innovative application of fragments and collage turns a bright fairy tale into a collection of irrelevant fragments. The noble princess, the brave prince and the lovely dwarfs do not exist, the readers'expectations are dashed and shattered. There is no center, no background and no plot in this novel. What is more, all the traditional ways of writing are abandoned, and language becomes the real protagonist.Therefore, under the flag of Deconstructionism and Postmodernism, the experimental writing strategies deconstruct and subvert the traditional way of story-telling. In the form of the absurd, the writer mocks and satirizes the postmodernist American society from different perspectives. By deconstructing the traditional writing conventions, Barthelme pays more attention to the problems of contemporary American society. Beneath the chaotic appearance of the novel, Barthelme displays severe social problems from political corruption to environment pollution, and shows his deep concern about the society, which is more significant in the novel. In this sense, Barthelme is more reconstructive than deconstructive. However, such experimental writing strategies also set barriers for readers to understand Barthelme's intended meaning and the present American society.For the purpose of understanding Barthelme's Snow White, showing the readers the fact that how Barthelme practises these postmodernist writing techniques, and discovering the hidden meaning of the chaotic appearance, this thesis attempts to first analyze the deconstructive tendency in the novel, then expose Barthelme's serious intention under the chaotic appearance and provide the postmodernist readers with some reading techniques of postmodernist novels.This thesis includes five parts. In addition to the introduction and conclusion parts, the thesis is divided into three chapters."Introduction"offers necessary background information of Donald Barthelme and Snow White. It also reviews the studies on Barthelme and the novel. Chapter Two concentrates on the origination, development and application of Deconstructionsm and Postmodernism, and makes clear the purpose and the theoretical basis of this research. Chapter Three focuses on the deconstructive tendency in the novel from the perspectives of writing devices, stylistic strategy and the creation of characters. Barthelme not only deconstructs the fairy tale, but also subverts the traditional way of writing. Chapter Four analyzes the reconstructive tendency in the novel, explores the hidden meaning beneath the disordered appearance. Then, the last chapter gives a conclusion of the whole thesis."Conclusion"summarizes the main points the preceding parts of the thesis have discussed and brings out the implication of the study itself. It also makes clear the limitations of this thesis and draws attention to the possible researches that can be made from other perspectives.By comparing the two versions of Snow White and following the deconstructionist reading process, the readers can surpass its meaningless surface, and get a new understanding of the contemporary society, which is also the subject of the novel, that is, in the postmodernist world, love, sympathy and completeness all disappear, even the ethics and logic cannot exist either, what is more, language in postmodernist world does not function as it used to, loses its referential quality and becomes the real protagonist of the writings. Under such circumstances, the postmodernist readers cannot find the ultimate meaning of such works, what they could do is to accept the reality.